"YA PUNG buri kung kayabe. (It is him I would like to work with)."
Pampanga Governor Lilia “Nanay” Pineda has left no doubt about her total confidence in the leadership of her son, Vice-Governor Dennis "Delta" Pineda, expressing it like a wish for her 68th birthday.
"Sana po wala nang may sakit, (I hope there would be no more be sick people)," went her second wish.
She expressed her wishes during the quarterly general assembly with sectoral groups. Held at the Bren Z. Guiao Convention Center here on Monday, the assembly drew 1,500 people with disabilities, 1,502 scavengers, 716 Aeta education scholars and 57 chemodialysis patients.
Pineda thanked the vice-governor and provincial board members for approving a budget that provides various forms of assistance to marginalized sectors.
"If not for the Sangguniang Panlalawigan (where the vice-governor is the presiding officer), I would not be able to make our government help you all," she said.
She said she was seeking the vice-governor's seat to be able to "continue serving the Kapampangans." She is running unopposed.
In her three terms as governor, the provincial government has spent P16.1 billion in infrastructure projects, social services, medical assistance, economic development and disaster risk reduction and management.
Vice-Governor Pineda said he was not letting her mother down, vowing to continue her "legacy of service to the people."
"Kung papalarin po tayo, lalo po akong magsisipag sa pagseserbisyo. (When luck favors me, I will aspire to be more hardworking in rendering services)," the younger Pineda said.